Les Fleurs Suite (updated)

Antique bed, Les Fleurs Suite

I forget whose idea it was to name everything in French.  When we're talking amongst ourselves, we always call it Flower.  "Remember those nice people who stayed in Flower?" Frau Schmitt will ask me, and I know exactly who she means.  

Our guests who get into the spirit of things call this Les Fleurs Suite, and they should.   That's what it says on our website.  It's this suite and it's one of our favorites.  The sitting room is pink and the bedroom is peach.  I forget whose idea it was to pick those colors but, with the blue ceiling and the all the antique furniture, it has a calming effect.  It's on the ground floor, which makes it Tammie the Housekeeper's favorite suite.

View from the front porch

As usual, I took all these pictures with my phone.  Les Fleurs Suite has its own private front porch that faces Esplanade Avenue.  You get to the porch through the front bedroom window that goes down to floor and up into the ceiling.  The bed frame used to be full-sized.  It used to be in Clio , but we got a new bed for up there.  We took this bed to the restorers and they turned it into a queen.  Les Fleurs Suite has a queen-sized bed - no need to call about that.   The only other suite with a queen bed is Clio.

Sitting room, Les Fleurs Suite

We added a new leather love seat to go with the velvet chair in the sitting room.  The sitting room also has the leather chair that matches the love seat.  You can't see it in this picture because I was sitting in it.  Even with the antique wardrobe and dresser, there's plenty of room in this first room of the suite.  

As for the second room, the bedroom, it has plenty of space in it, too, even with the antique queen bed and the other antique furnishings.  We already saw a picture of the bed, here's what it looks like to look from the bedroom through the sitting room:

Bedroom view of the sitting room

You'd think I took these pictures at different times of day on different days, but the light is beguiling in our house, especially when you use your phone to take the pictures.  There is a private bathroom off the bedroom, equipped with an antique claw foot tub in case you want to take a soak.  The tub is equipped with a shower head - no need to call about that.  The hand sink, however, is in the bedroom because it's more European that way.

The reason this is called Les Fleurs Suite is because of the botanical artwork on the walls.  Some are photographic prints.  There is a paper mache flower from a Mardi Gras float.  Over the mantle in the sitting room, there are some original oil paintings by a local artist we like to collect.  

Two private rooms, a private bath, and a private porch that looks out over Esplanade Avenue.  The wild ginger in front of the porch is coming back after almost dying from cold last winter.  Esplanade Avenue is a beautiful street and the front porch presents an interesting and ever-changing view.  

It's a main street, but it isn't terribly busy for a main city street.  Cars go by and people walk by, too.  The tour buses and bicycle tours stop across the street to snap pictures of the house.  We live in a kind of landmark: most colorful house on Esplanade Avenue.

The best way to make a reservation is online through our website: labelleesplanade.com.  There's no need to call unless you have questions.  In that case, we'll be happy to answer them.  We're not always home though, so email is generally more efficient.  

I'm not trying to discourage you from calling, it's just that we put everything up on our website.  We don't think anybody likes surprises.  When somebody calls, they have to wait for me to pull up our website to check availability or to check our policies.  

Tammie the Housekeeper

Tammie the Housekeeper is a whiz with the cleaning, but she prefers not to have anything to do with computers.  That's why she never answers the phone.  The answering machine can take a message as well as she can.  She's usually busy getting the suites ready, stocking the complimentary refrigerator, making sure ever suite has coffee, tea, a bag of Zapp's potato chips, and putting a praline on the pillow.  We wouldn't be as successful as we are without good housekeeping.

We look forward to meeting you.

A votre santé,

La Belle Esplanade bed and breakfast.